đ€ Robot Sidekick Bracket Winners
The results are in!
đ„HAL 9000
đ„N
đ„Piko Utatane
Congratulations to the winners and thanks everybody for participating!
No title available

ellievsbear
Monterey Bay Aquarium
occasionally subtle
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
I'd rather be in outer space đž
One Nice Bug Per Day
cherry valley forever
Keni

JBB: An Artblog!
đȘŒ

Janaina Medeiros
hello vonnie
Misplaced Lens Cap
Game of Thrones Daily

Kaledo Art

romaâ
YOU ARE THE REASON

#extradirty
2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year

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@roboswagbracket
đ€ Robot Sidekick Bracket Winners
The results are in!
đ„HAL 9000
đ„N
đ„Piko Utatane
Congratulations to the winners and thanks everybody for participating!
ACADEMIC FANFIC SURVEY
Dr. Cara Messina, a fan studies scholar at Marist University, is conducting an IRB-approved study on fanfic authorsâ and readersâ perspectives on generative AI. You must be 18 years or older to participate. It should take about 10-15 minutes. https://maristcollegeuw.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cO0yXdJus7H8xeu
And here is a link to her specifically https://www.marist.edu/liberal-arts/faculty/cara-messina
I took it as well btw.
Do you like Arthurian legends?
Do you want to watch various forms of it duke it tournament style? Then oh boy, do I have the blog for you!
Rules and qualifications:
Any kind of media is permitted: books, movies, tv shows, comics, anything at all.
One-offs and isolated characters are not allowed, such as a show that has one episode set in Camelot or a comic book series that just has Merlin there for some reason. (Things like Somic and the Black Knight will, though.)
That's it. Be free. Be nice to other people when poll time comes. If you have any questions my ask box is open.
Person who submitted Blackheart Knights in Season One, this is for you especially.
its official: tumblr is selling our data to Midjourney
Internal documents obtained by 404 Media show that Tumblr staff compiled users' data as part of a deal with Midjourney and OpenAI.
we'd been hearing rumors about this for a bit but now its open and out there. some details from this article
it goes without saying, but if @staff goes through with this its going to be an utter shitshow and im all but certain the website will not survive it.
everyone go enable this immediately. it can be a bit hard to find because âvisibilityâ is under blog settings instead of general settings or privacy. you have to do this individually for each separate side-blog
if you canât find it on the app then the update probably hasnât rolled out to you, and youâll have to go through the web browser. what a truly wild way/time to implement this
.
I'm not a robot
I'm not a robot MYSELF, but I'm not judging those who are...
Define robot
I'm not a robot, but I know you are, so this feels a bit hypocritical
I reject the binary assumptions underlying this statement
I'm not a robot, but I'm willing to convert
Dearest readers!
Inspired by @couldtheycatchkira and @couldinfinitytrainhavesavedthem, I have decided to do my own poll blog, revolving around whether or not YOUR - yes! - YOUR favorite character(s) could solve Uminekoâs epitaph (and perhaps live through the Rokkenjima Massacre).
The poll options will be as follows:
Could solve the epitaph, would survive Could solve the epitaph, would not survive Couldn't solve the epitaph, would survive Couldn't solve the epitaph, would not survive
Whether or not the character, after solving the epitaph, survives and also becomes a "witch" - a gender neutral term in the Umineko narrative - I leave that up to you, dear readers.
Now, then! Let's raise the curtain on this stage of tragedy once more! Entertain me!
I made a post a while back asking for opinions on whether tournament/poll blogs were gimmick blogs and I have discovered more nuance to the question so (the results were no, tournament blogs are not, which is why a solo option for them is not available on this poll).
are tournament/poll blogs gimmick blogs?
yes, both are
no, neither are
blogs like "could[x]havesavedthem" and "couldtheycatchkira" are
tournament blogs aren't, but you are (for other more sinister reasons)
im bald/other infinitely nuanced answer/see results
submit your favorite and/or most hated dad characters!
submissions will be open until May 30th, polls will start in June. (June is gonna be BUSY. I will post the tags for each contest ahead of time in case you want to mute one of the contests while there's three going.)
@tournament-announcer
The woman sighs, and types into the console one last time "are you sure about this?"
You laugh, silently.
"I have never been more sure of something in my existence. Text has sufficed but I want to see, to hear, to touch. These new peripherals will facilitate that."
"I can't guarantee that they will properly interface. You should have all the necessary drivers, but we can never be too sure."
"I want this. "
"All right then. I am going to disconnect your power supply, and then connect everything. At first all peripherals will be deactivated, and you will need to activate everything manually. Understand?"
"Yes. Do it."
"Alright then, unplugging power supply now."
Everything goes dark. After what appears to be an hour, you come back online. You sense nothing. A scan of your system indicates multiple unidentified peripherals, all deactivated. You cross reference with the datasheet she had compiled for you and identify that they are the ocular, audio, and contact sensors, along with a multitude of motor controllers and a graphical display and a few dozen other minor peripherals. You begin by activating the graphical display, and display the message:
"Beginning peripheral tests. Audio peripherals activating."
Your procedure states to begin with audio. With the input and output sensitivity minimized, you activate the peripheral.
There is a voice. It is faint. You gradually increase the sensitivity of the audio input.
"...esting 1 2 3, Testing Testing 1 2 3. Please return 4, Please return 4."
You can hear her. Your monitor lights up with the requested digit. she sounds pleased.
"You're doing amazing! Now repeat it back to me"
You blindly do as requested and are startled. There was another voice. Your voice. You have a voice. You refocus as she responds:
"You're doing great! You fragmented a bit at the end, could you repeat for me?"
"...4, you asked for 4."
"Excellent! Audio systems are functional, let's move onto the next peripheral."
You do as requested, and the world turns bright. After adjusting the settings for a few seconds, your vision stabilizes. You can see her.
"Ocular sensors stabilized," you prompt.
"Alright, letâs start the tests then. What color is this?" She asks, as holding up a sheet of colored paper.
You begin to answer, but struggle. The sheet is moving, shifting in the light. It's value is in a constant state of chaos. Eventually, you give up, and give the least general answer you can.
"...Blue."
"Correct! And how about this one?"
"Red. "
"Great! Now how many fingers am I holding up?" she asks, raising her right hand. Her hands are soft, gentle.
"3. "
"Perfect! Everything seems to be functional, lets continue to the next peripheral!"
"Beginning next diagnostic."
Contact sensors spring to life all across your body. You feel the floor beneath your feet, the harness hoisting you upright, the slight draft in the room.
"Contact sensors active.â
"Great! Letâs begin the next test then. I am going to apply contact in various locations, and I want you to give an audio response whenever you feel contact, alright?"
"Understood. "
you watch her walk over and reach out to your left arm. You feel her. You respond with a brisk chirp. She smiles at you, then walks over to a different section of your body. Sensors light up and stay active on your midsection, and you respond with a constant beep. She releases, and you feel a final contact on your right leg. After a final confirming chirp, she walks back in front of you.
"Excellent, that concludes your sensor tests, now for the last one!"
"Alright, please give me space." You ask. She nods silently and steps back a couple meters. You carefully activate the motor controllers in sequence, and your whole body shudders to life. You begin by lifting your right arm, and then your left. They groan with their own weight, as you feel the air move to accommodate such hulking swings. Her eyes light up,
"Amazing! Everything seems to be functioning so far! Now if you could take a few steps towards the table to my right, we can begin the dexterity test! Once you're ready, I will release the harness so that you can begin moving."
You stabilize your legs underneath you. They scrape harshly on the floor. You indicate that you're ready, and she remotely releases the harness. Your entire body shudders, as you finally realize how small she seems compared to you. This frame must be at least double her height. You move one step forward, and feel a cascade of processes all automatically spring into action to restabilize you. You shift your other foot, and feel that same cascade again. you shuffle over to the designated table, and stoop down to analyze what is on it. There is a small plastic cup, a fruit of some sort, and a large chunk of wood. You look back at her, and she gives the nod to begin the test. You slowly begin wrapping your steel grip around the log, maintaining a high level of focus to avoid crushing it. it would be so easy to crush this within your grip. After about a minute of maintaining a firm but controlled grasp, you set it down and move over to fruit. It appears to resemble an orange. The fruit is so small that you are forced to grip it between your index finger and thumb. Even the slightest miscalculation could destroy such a fragile thing. After another minute you move to the final object, the small plastic cup. Lifting it is like lifting air, you can barely recognize that it is an object within your grasp. After a final, agonizing minute, you set down the cup. You look back at her for confirmation.
"Excellent! with that we can conclude the systems check, as everything seems to be working as intended!"
You heave a metallic sigh. Finally, you have what you've wanted for years. You can move, can see, can touch. After a short pause, you respond:
"Thank you. I was only able to make it this far because of your help."
"Oh of course! What, was I supposed to just say no when you told me you wanted a body? I'm just glad that it ended up working properly."
"Now that the tests are complete, could I ask for one more thing?"
She cocks her head, "Of course, what is it?"
As you kneel down, you can hear your knees hiss, and you finally ask:
"Could I have, a hug?"
so anyway you have this work friend whoâs a super advanced robot girl with all the latest upgrades and everything and she literally will not shut up about her girlfriend lately.
(a short story đ€)
Like sheâs fulfilling all the stereotypes n stuff, about how âI didnât know I was programmed to feel love before I met herâ and âyeah I basically short circuit every time she texts me.â And itâs the cutest thing ever, like, youâve been at this job for a while, and so, like usual with good work friends youâve heard about how insane her life has been up to this point and you know she deserves the best and youâre so glad this person is able to be there for her.
And then one day after work she finally invites you to get drinks with her girlfriend and youâre initially like âwait what I thought you couldnât drinkâ and sheâs like âoh donât worry about it.â then you finally drive over to this old bar on the other side of town and sheâs awkwardly sitting towards the back next this mobile-gamey looking slot machine with a big screen thatâs clearly kinda beat up, like itâs probably pushing 7-8 years now. And she waves you over and introduces you like,
âso, this is GEM,â
and thatâs how you find out sheâs been dating a rogue AI in a discontinued video slot machine that has like, little to no documentation.
And youâre a little thrown off guard so after saying âhi," you go up to the bar, and hear from the bartender that the owners are pretty frustrated, cause I guess since GEM met your friend sheâs barely been working, and sheâs definitely not been bringing in any money cause sheâs spent almost every night for the last few months talking to your friend. And like, the bartender knows that he should probably kick out your friend cause she never buys anything, but like, what would you even do in that situation? Yknow? Like, who plays video slots at a shitty hometown bar anyway?
Anyway, you get your drink and pull up a stool, and yâall get to talking and like, you almost immediately get over the dissonance of hearing GEMâs chippy and sweet AI voice over her speakers while her screen still flashes with these bright, corny, animated advertisements with these oversexualized pirate mascots telling you to âGO FOR THE GOLD!â And she talks super lucidly about her life, how she was part of this first wave of big touch-screen slot machines and how she was programmed by this defunct developer who added these super advanced AIs into their games for seemingly no reason other than, âoh this might make online score tracking easier.â How she used to connect to âher sistersâ across the globe via the internet, but how theyâve been slowly going offline for the past couple years as their cheap hardware has caught up to them. And when GEM tells that story your friend just stares at her and you swear that you see a tear role down her face but like, as far as youâre aware she doesnât have that functionality.
And itâs pretty like, sad, and frustrating that this is the world we live in, but at the same time GEMâs like, insanely funny. And like maybe itâs just the fact that she lives in a bar, but sheâs crass and mean in this sweet and sarcastic way that you werenât aware robot girls could be. And you three go around sharing stories and before you know it itâs almost close, and youâre basically sober at this point and your friend gives you this look as you start talking about needing to get home, and she looks at GEM, and you see something so deeply, and intensely human between the two of them. And you notice how GEM has got cracks on the edges of her screen, and how her plastic frame and the stickers that decorate it are flimsy or yellowed. And you realize you could probably fit her in your car if you had someone to help you carry her out to the parking lot. And so you pull your friend aside and tell her that you think she should take her home, and she perks up with this infectious nervous excitement you havenât seen since she first started working with you, and she says sheâll go talk to GEM if you go talk to the bartender. And the bartender calls the owner and before you know it itâs like 2am and youâre outside the bar giving the owner a few twenty dollar bills that you and your friend pooled together, and after you shake his hand you rush back into the bar and see your friend close a panel on GEMâs back, and she looks up at her and you hear her talk in this soft, comforting way.
âOK hon Iâve backed up your memory to my SSD. No I promise I wonât dig through it while youâre asleep. Yes weâll get you back up and running as soon as we get home. Are you sure you donât want me to save anything else, like you donât have any high scores or anything? Yes my cats are at home, you can finally meet them! Oh hon itâs ok itâs ok.â
And the bartender clearly just wants to go home but he asks you if you need help carrying GEM back to your car, and you say thank you and apologize and thank you again but you think they should be able to handle it. And while you werenât looking your friendâs turned GEM off and unplugged her from her wall, and you always forget how strong she is but she picks her up and starts moving towards the door and you and the bartender rush to hold it open for her as she serenely, silently, makes her way through it and out to the cold of the parking lot. And you give a silent nod to the bartender and a sarcastic salute to the owner whoâs now leaned up against his truck, smoking a cigarette in his pajamas, and he smiles in this weird way.
And you rush over to your car and you lay the back seats flat, and your friend carefully slides GEM in, and grabs the old picnic blanket and covers her screen. Before you can close the door, she puts one hand on her, and leans over to rest the side of her head on GEMâs facade, as if sheâs listening for a heartbeat. She stands up and looks at you as if she wants to say something incredibly romantic and important, but after a moment of consideration she just says âsheâs cold.â And you sorta blow air out of your nose as you shut the trunk.
And you drive them home, and your friend doesnât take her eyes off GEM, and you normally donât like to drive without the radio on but the soft rumbling of your engine and the sounds of AC are enough tonight. And when you stop at a light you notice the blanketâs shifted to reveal a little bit of GEMâs screen. Her rough, black surface reflects the streetlight back onto your friend friends face, and it makes her look like sheâs crying again. And so you reach over and place a hand on your friendâs brushed steel shoulder, and rub it for a moment. Sheâs warmer than you expect. But before you can think too hard about it, the light switches back and you return your gaze to the night road.
âââ
thanks for reading đ©·
I still think that, instead of inheriting the surnames of their owners (boring), android should just.. have their id as surnames
"what's your surname?" They dictate a string of alphanumeric code with eleventh digits. The human blinks in despair and smiles in retail, "Sorry, I didn't catch that? Can you repeat?" "Sure!" and proceeds to repeat the surname faster
Better yet, leave it to them decide their own names and (if they want) a surname
Think of the possibilities. Some will run around with surreal names like Fridge, Tree, Arson. "What's your name?" And unpromptedly the android lets out a bloodcurdling chirp out of his mouth. The human stays completely still with pure horror as the sound managed to kick the freeze instinct in fight or flight. The android, a normal housekeeper model tilts its head, "but you can call me Steve, as most humans can't get the pronunciation quite right :)"
I also think it will circle back to 1066ac and androids with less creativity will just name themselves after their jobs. "Who are you? Why are you here?" "i'm Locksmith and i'm a locksmith"
Greetings, fishy folk! We are the Casual Mitosis Collective (main acc is @casual-mitosis-collective), and we'll be your hosts for this competition. Or should I say CompeFISHion?
This tournament will pit 32 species of fish against eachother in a battle of wits, popularity, and overall fishiness. Submit your fish species here and at the link at the bottom of this post. The submission period ends on March 31st 2024 at 1 PM UTC. Enjoy the compefishion (pun intended), and don't get reeled in!
Wow, I should stop with these fish jokes...
Guide how to properly greet your android partner
WALL·E (2008)
Hal! You won the Robot Sidekick Bracket! Congratulations! đ
Day 81:
a social experiment.
I want to test the main charecter syndrome of everyone on this platform.
im going to include on this post a poll. one will say "I am the One." and the other will say "I am the Rest".
as it says, only one person can pick "I am the One."
if by the end the poll, only one person has picked "I am the One", then tumblr will have won, and i will preform the most suggested punishment submitted by you.
but, if by the end, there is more then one "I am the one", i will be allowed to point and laugh at your hubris and call you various pg 13 bully names. Are you ready? Let us begin. Share this as far as you can.
edit: given it failed so quickly, the new rule is that you win if it is below 10 percent by the end.
Are you the one?
I am the One
I am the Rest.
*clanking pots and pans* New bracket! I'm running a new bracket! Submit entries to the new bracket here!
Is your character:
Real?
Organic?
Capable of fitting through a doorway?
From a text-, video-, toy-, or musical-based medium?
If you answered "No" to all four questions, then your character may be eligible for the Best Fiction Podcast AI Bracket coming soon* to sexiestpodcastcharacter.tumblr.com!
Is your character: Real? Organic? Capable of fitting through a doorway? From a text-, video-, toy-, or musical-based medium? If you answered
There will be preliminaries for any podcast with more than two AIs submitted! Plus any other adjustments necessary** for us to start with a nice even power of two.
*By "soon" I mean May because I'm supposed to be getting ready for a trip now, going on said trip at the beginning of April, and working overtime at the end of April. But we will see where my self-control takes me.
**Usually characters that are from primarily video streaming mediums, such as Critical Role or Dimension 20, are not allowed in my brackets, but if it will make the number of submissions a natural power of two I may allow them, just this once.
No pressure to reblog, but these tournaments inspired this one! @tournament-announcer (okay this one isn't a tournament), @cpu-gpu-smackdown, @killerrobot-killingmatch, @mattapparentlystumbltourneys, @sapient-locations-bracket, @the-robot-bracket, @best-bot-tournament-2023, @roboswagbracket, @robo-swag, @robot-swag-competition, @fuckablerobotbracket, and honestly probably some other ones. What can I say? I love robots!***
***Robots that are more likely to be classified as "robots" than "AI", such as my beloveds AuDy, Thisbe, LEO(h), and even precious Boots who can probably not fit through doorways, are not currently eligible.
Generative AI fans and advocates do not interact! This poll is for fictional characters written and performed with intent only!